The measure “would address key deficiencies in RECA, and extend compensation to a number of currently unqualified but suffering uranium workers and downwinders,” the senators wrote.

The amendments would expand the qualifications for compensation for radiation exposure to include post-1971 uranium workers for compensation; equalize compensation for all claimants to $150,000; expand the downwind exposure area to include seven states; and fund an epidemiological study of the health impacts on families of uranium workers and residents of uranium-development communities.